How the West Was Won: An interview with ChiefsLA
With the Chargers re-locating to Los Angeles, do you anticipate any negative affect on your membership or presence in the community?
Not at all. Since L.A. hasn’t had a team in so long, and the fact that more than half of the city is from elsewhere, it won’t change the fans we have. If people love the Chiefs, they will be at The Rec Room with us. If not, they will be watching their team at a different bar. The biggest thing is that there are so many Chiefs fans in the city that still don’t know about us, so we’re focusing more on our social media presence and spreading the word (with publications like Arrowhead Addict).
With the Oakland Raiders headquartered just six hours away, how often does The Rec Room encounter Raiders fans?
No one likes Raider fans. [Laughs] Only half kidding! We do get a couple of brave ones that come time and again for the Chiefs-Raiders game, but honestly we enjoy the rivalry. It’s one of the oldest and best in the NFL! Plus, we don’t stand for any kind of insults or violence, from either side. We want to enjoy the game. We want it to be fun and exciting. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but either way, it isn’t a reason to put someone down or possibly injure someone. We have never had an issue.
Are there any specific traditions that ChiefsLA maintains during or following the regular season?
We actually had one couple that met at a watch party who are now married and have a child together. You can bet that kid is a Chiefs fan!
With the Chargers now in L.A., our yearly Chiefs-Chargers tailgate party is going to be in full force. We started it two years ago and made the trip down to San Diego, but expect it to explode in this coming season. We will be posting information about that in the next few weeks on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts. On top of that, we give a bar discount to Chiefs fans, have a BBQ sauce bar, raffle prizes, do free halftime shots, stand on our chairs and do the Tomahawk Chop when we score. We also have a long time patron who does the “that’s good for a Kansas City Chiefs…FIRST DOWN” and end up taking plenty of photos! We want people to not only enjoy the game but make new friends. We actually had one couple that met at a watch party who are now married and have a child together. You can bet that kid is a Chiefs fan!